Shadow's Story
by Gavin the Crocodile
Summary: A recollection of SA2 through the eyes of Shadow the Hedgehog
1. Awakened

Awake at last. I checked my surroundings, but nothing was recognizable. I stood up from the capsule I was in and looked down. There was a bald, round man, with a very large mustache. He was sitting inside of a machine. _He's the one who awakened me. Somehow, he seems familiar,_ I thought. I then wondered how long I was asleep. My thoughts were soon interrupted.

"Sonic! How'd you get here?" The man asked. "Wait, you can't be Sonic!"

"My name is Shadow," I told him. "Since you released me, I will help you achieve greatness." An alarm went off.

"Oh, now what?" The man asked.

"Wait here," I said. Energy came out of my special shoes and I was lifted off of the ground. "I will show you the true power that I possess!" I flew to a large platform and was confronted by a giant robot. It had legs, but no arms and was green. I could tell that a human was inside of the cockpit. He was my main target. With my hover shoes activated, I 'skated' to my opponent. I focused on the cockpit, jumped in the air and preformed a homing attack. The window stayed undamaged, but I could hear a muffled groan from the inside as the machine stumbled.

The robot jumped into he air and was propelled by a jet on its back. It flew around the room and shot missiles at me. I easily outran them and kicked the mechanism's leg. It stayed still for a few moments, and a strange sound came out of it. It sounded like energy was forming inside of it. Realizing what was happening, I quickly did a somersault to dodge a large blast of energy shot at me. I focused on the cockpit once more, and then flicked my fingers. A blast of my own energy surrounded the entire robot and pummeled. _Pathetic human, _I thought to myself.

"Shadow, that was incredible!" The man from before said. I turned around and faced him. "So, you're the military's secret weapon, eh?" He said.

_Yes, I'm a weapon, but I don't belong to the military!_ I thought to myself. _They can all pay for what they've done to Maria! _Anger filled me as I thought about the past events. Revenge flooded through my mind.

"Meet me at the central control room in the space colony A.R.K." I told him. I then started to walk away.

"Ark?" He asked me. "Wait!"

"Bring more Chaos Emeralds." I said, and then left him.

_This human seems intelligent enough, but not aware of my intentions. _I thought to myself. _Good. He will suffer with the rest of them, too. _I looked at the gray sky. It seemed to be early in the morning, about five o'clock. And there was a Chaos Emerald nearby too. I sensed it coming from not too far off. I turned on my hover shoes and traveled toward the emerald for a while.

Eventually, I came across a shop with a green emerald on display. I could feel the energy coming from, and instantly recognized it as a Chaos Emerald. I curled into my spindash technique and crashed through the window. I then snatched the emerald and jumped back out side. There was a shriek from a nearby resident and I could here someone running towards me. I quickly turned dashed away at full speed.

By now it was around eight o'clock. There hadn't been anyone trying to catch me yet, but I was still on my guard. I was heading towards the mountains, since that would be the easiest way to jump into space. I was walking in some busy city. There werehuge buildingseverywhereand strange cars were coming and going.

"Hey, that's the guy!" Someone shouted. I glanced behind me and saw two police officers heading towards me. "Hey, can we talk to you, mister?" One asked me. I knew that they wouldn't be difficult to take on, but if I killed them, things could've gotten complicated. So instead, I ran. After a few moments, I noticed this blue hedgehog that looked identical to me. Then I hatched an idea. I picked up two stones and used one to scratch the other one, and eventually ended up with an emerald shaped rock. I then picked up some algae lying in the street and smothered it on the stone. It looked exactly like my Chaos Emerald.

"Here," I said as I tossed the fake emerald to the hedgehog. I then ran away and hid behind a bush to see if the officers would believe that this guy was the real culprit.

"What the?" the hedgehog started before he was confronted by the officers.

"Hey, aren't you Sonic the hedgehog?" One of them asked.

"Yeah," the blue hedgehog said.

"And that's the Chaos Emerald!" The other officer pointed to my rock. "Sir, we're placing you under arrest for the theft of one Chaos Emerald," The officer placed handcuffs on Sonic and took him away while he tried to claim his innocence. I chuckled at the situation, and then hurried onward._  
_

By nightfall, I was at an unfinished street highway. The police had been trying to catch me since midday, so I guessed that the blue hedgehog had either escaped, or was proved innocent. I stood on top of a large red bridge tower and stared at the chaos below me. _How pathetic!_ I thought. I looked up into the night sky, and when I saw the stars, I remembered her. It was a painful memory, of a blonde girl. We were both in the Ark, and she was leaning on a table wounded. I wanted to help her, but I was encapsulated. I was being sent to Earth, and could only watch my single friend suffer. "Maria!" I called out to her. She looked at me and whispered, "Shadow. Please promise me! For all of the people of that planet…" She looked down and my capsule was sent. I just barely heard her last words, "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog."

_Maria, I still remember what I promised you that day._ I thought, as anger started flooding through my body. _For all of the people of this planet, I promise you revenge!_ I jumped of the tower and landed on the suspension cord. I was able to grind all of the way down and land on the street. Without wasting any time, my shoes turned on and I skated past the guard robots and police. Two small robots that were hovering in the air were ahead of me and they tried shooting laser beams, but I easily jumped over the shots. I landed on one of them and then jumped to the next one. Before landing, I kicked the second robot, was sent into a side flip, curled into a ball and destroyed the last robot with my quills. I swiftly land on the ground and darted away. There was a group of three large robots shaped like humans that had gun. I simply ran past them as fast as I could and they were destroyed by the sound wave created from my speed. Soon, I was surrounded by hundreds of robots. I needed a way to destroy them all at once. Thinking fast, I took out my emerald, and jumped. With the power of the emerald, I was able to create a shield of energy that set off like a bomb. This destroyed every robot in my way and I was able to move on.

Eventually, I made it past the highway and was in another city. Traveling from rooftop to rooftop, I spotted a giant machine that resembled the one I fought back at the military site. At first I thought it was after me, but then it just blew up! I traveled closer and saw the blue hedgehog from this afternoon. I jumped onto the massive machine and looked at the hedgehog.

"You were able to destroy this machine?" I asked with coolly, without showing my disbelief. What kind of normal being had the strength to take out that type of government machinery?

"Huh, hey! Who're you?" The guy asked me. "Wait a minute! You're the one who tossed me the rock! You got me into all of this trouble!" He looked angry. "What're you holding?" he asked. He looked at the emerald in my hand and grew even angrier. "You really did steal the Chaos Emerald! You'd better hand it over!"

I stared at him as he approached me with great speed. I stared for a moment, and then shouted the words, "Chaos Control!" I was swallowed by a green light and everything slowed down to almost a stop. I ran past the hedgehog while he was still staring at the area I was in before. I then kicked him in the back and jumped up to another roof.

"Ugh!" The hedgehog groaned. "He's fast! Wait, he must be using the emerald to warp!"

"My name is Shadow and I am the ultimate life form," I told him. "I have no time for games. Farewell!" I held up the emerald and warped away.

After another hour, I had reached the top of Mount Everest. I held up my emerald again and summoned all of its power. I shouted, "Chaos Control!" And warped to the tip of the space colony Ark. I then traveled to the central control room expecting the man I met earlier to be there, but he wasn't. With the extra time I had, I decided to rest.

After about an hour or so, the man had arrived. "So, Shadow," The man started. "You are the creation of my Grandfather, eh?"

"Now I get it," I said. "You are Professor Gerald's Grandson, Ivo, aren't you? The resemblance is very clear."

"How do you know my name?" Ivo asked.

"Professor Gerald mentioned to me about his soon to be grandson, Ivo."

"Mentioned to you? Well I'm called Dr. Eggman now, and I'm the greatest Scientific Genius in the world to live."

"Dr. Eggman? How befitting…" I mumbled to myself.

"What was that?" Eggman asked angrily.

"Nothing."

"Very well. Now, why have you called me here?"

I faced the machine behind me. It had four cylinder tubes and a small panel with seven holes. Each hole was a perfect fit for a Chaos Emerald. "The first space colony created by man, known as Ark. It was one of the most advanced research facility in its prime, but not many people knew that weapons of mass destruction were also being created. This is the Eclipse Canon, capable of destroying an entire planet."

"An entire planet?" Eggman exclaimed. "My grandfather was working on this?"

"Yes," I answered calmly. "But it has been shut down for quite a while. To turn it back on at full force, you'd need a large amount of energy." With that statement, I tossed my Chaos Emerald into one of the holes in the panel. A green light came out of the machine as it made a loud humming sound, which almost instantly softened.

"So that's why we needed the Chaos Emeralds!" The Eggman said. "So, I'll find the seven Chaos Emeralds, use the machine to scare the world, and finally create my own empire!"

"Do you really think it will be that easy?" Said a voice from above. A batgirl flew down from one of the many metal beams near the roof.

"Who're you?" Eggman asked as the girl landed.

"Rouge the bat, at your service. I just want to help you, I am, after all the greatest treasure hunter in the world." The bat flashed a blue Chaos emerald, and then hid it again.

"Hmm, well what are you getting out of the deal?" Eggman asked disapprovingly.

"When you took that giant emerald earlier, you mentioned a reaction with your transmitter frequency, one connected to the Master Emerald. Now, if you'd let me borrow that transmitter, I'll help you."

Eggman looked over to me, expecting an answer. I glanced at the bat. Something didn't feel right about her, I couldn't place it though. I didn't care about the doctor's transmitter, but we would need the bat's emerald. It would be a lot easier to have her give it to us instead of taking it, and if she knew where the other emeralds were, it'd be easier to collect all seven. I gave the Eggman a small nod.

"Alright then" Eggman said. "You can borrow my transmitter." He searched inside of the walker he came in and pulled out some device with a radar system.

"Thanks, doc!" Rouge said. "Now then, do you know about the government facility, GUN?"

Eggman looked disapprovingly. "I... may have been there before."

"Well, you'll have to go back if you want three Chaos Emeralds."


	2. The Chaos Emeralds

So now we were back at the GUN facility, Prison Island. We were hiding in a forest area as Eggman went over our plan.

"Are you positively sure that the emeralds are here, bat girl?" The doctor said with an angry voice. I think that's how he always sounds, though.

"Of course I'm sure!" Rouge replied.

"Very well. Lets discuss the procedure once more. First, I will create a distraction, allowing Rouge to enter the base undetected. Then, Shadow will take these bomb packs," Eggman held up two of his own bomb cartridges. I had a pack full of them with me. "And he will stick them on different areas around the island." The Eggman then looked at Rouge. "Meanwhile, you will be searching for the Chaos Emeralds. The bombs will be armed and we will have fifteen minutes to escape. We only have one shot to pull this off, so make it work! Let's go!"

Rouge flew over to a small building where she could hide until she was able to get in. Eggman went on full assault of the guard robots while I traveled nearby. I stuck some bomb cartridges in-between buildings and under bridges where they would be hard to spot. Luckily, most guard robots were turned off, so they didn't serve any trouble to me.

After a few minutes, I had planted several explosives around the base and was riding an airplane, undetected. I was keeping an eye on Rouge's location, as well as the doctor's. I noticed that both of them went to one spot, which meant that it was time to start the second phase of our operation. I held out my hand and surrounded it with a ball of energy, then struck the plane, causing it to blow up and send me flying to the area I had aimed to. As soon as I landed, Eggman checked that our plan was going smoothly. Once he had confirmed it, we were ready to start. I turned to head into the jungle, but something jumped on me.

"Oh Sonic!" The thing shouted. I shoved it off and turned around. It was a small, pink female hedgehog. I glared at her angrily, causing the girl to scream and run away.

"What timing? Ah, I'll deal with Amy, you two keep going," Eggman said. I nodded and ran towards the jungle. Before I left, I noticed a small blue plane land. I would've destroyed it, but it was bieng piloted by a kid! The docter could handle it.

I traveled deep into the jungle and spread out each bomb. After several minutes, the entire isalnd was covered and set to detonate.

"Dr.," I stated into my radio. "The bombs are ready".

"Arg!" Was his reply. "I've… run into some trouble. We can't wait any longer, start the timer! Rouge, you have fifteen minutes to get the emeralds."

"Five minutes should be plenty." The bat-girl said with a tone of arrogance.

I took out a small control pad and pressed a button. Every bomb was now set and ready to detonate. All I had to do, was wait until I was given a signal.

No more than six minutes later, Rouge had anounced that she was locked in a giant safe with all three Chaos Emeralds. So much for a master thief. At first I just shrugged the matter off. If she blew up along with the island, me and the doctor could easily retrive the emeralds from the ocean. But strangely, an image of Maria flashed through my mind. I thought back to Rouge. Suddenly, I felt an unexplainable obligation to help her. I hated it, but it seemed right. So, without a second thought, I dashed back into the jungle, heading towards the base of Prison Island.

I only had ten minutes to get Rouge and the emeralds, then get off the island. I could have done it under five. As I began through the jungle, it started raining. I passed several robot guards, none realizing that I had even passed. The path I was gliding on curved up, into a loop. My speed gave me enough momentum to stick to the path, then launch me up as the path ended. I flew towards a a tree, and did a backflip to hit it with my feet. With a quick shove, I flew to another tree. I repated the process in a blaze, then caught a low branch and swung around it. I stopped and stood atop the branch, then blindly dove into a mist of tree branches.

I fell into a small passage, then landed on a thick vine. The vine acted as a rail to me as I grinded through the jungle. I soon jumped off and landed on a new vine. This one curved around and did its own loop, but I stuck on. I leapt off and clung on to another nearby vine. It swung me across most of the forest before I let go and landed on a tree. By then, the raining had stopped.


	3. face off with Sonic

"Ah," I sighed, and looked below. "What the? That blue hedgehog, of all places!"

"Ha! I've finally found you, faker!" He said.

I stared at him for a moment. "Me? I think you're the fake one around here." I said coolly. "You think that you can even be compared to me? You're not good enough to be considered a fake!" I crossed my arms.

"Argh! I'll make you eat those words!" He leapt up and tried to punch me, but I was already waiting on a small island of land nearby. "Urg!"

"There's no time for games, fool!" I said, with my arms still crossed . The hedgehog curled into a ball and shot out at me again. I was slightly surprised that he could copy my spindash with such ease, but I was still able to dodge again. The hedgehog was faster then I expected though. He followed his dash with another punch, this time hitting me in the face. "Ugh. You're fast," I shook off the punch.

"The fastest thing alive!" He said, with an arrogant smirk.

"Hm, what's your name?" I asked. He seemed somewhat shocked, but it passed quickly.

"The name's Sonic."

"Sonic… Well, leave now Sonic, or suffer." I activated my shoes to lift me in the air slightly.

"I think I'll stay for a while longer. Things are getting intresting."

"Fine. I'll deal with you quick, and effortlessly."

I flew forward, aniticipating Sonic's next move. He tried another punch, but I did a front flip over it and struck my foot back. Sonic somersaulted under that, then jumped in the air. I spun around and jumped as well. I used my homing attack, expecting to knock him back, but he also used a homing attack. We impacted and were sent astray of each other, but then used the same attack, again. I flew back a second time, then struck forward with all of my might.We seemed to be equal in strength, at least for the moment. I was still on another mission, so I didn't focus all of my strength into this battle.

"Stupid hedgehog," I muttered. "Get out of the way!" I formed an energy blast into my left hand as I sent a finishing punch.

"Yeah right!" Sonic laughed. He dodged to the right and moved behind me in a complete blur. He used a high kick while I recovered my posture, and knocked me off of my feet. I held out my hands before falling to loosen my fall into a somersault. "Not bad." He shrugged. "Shadow, huh?"

"I am the ultimate life-form. There's no chance that you'll beat me!" I said, furiously.

"Ultimate life-form? Whatever. You're just a copycat, a fake! Created by Eggman, right?"

I rushed forward and threw several punches. He dodged most, but was too slow for the final one. As he stammered, I aimed another homing attack and struck. The hedgehog flew back and landed softly on his back.

"Uhn. Fine, I'm gonna finish this!" Sonic shouted. He stood up and gave another arrogant smirk. I began to loathe him even more.

Sonic dashed at me again, and started to use some of his punches. I dodged each and countered with a low kick. Sonic jumped over it and tried a mid-air kick. I blocked with my right arm and used the left to punch. Sonic took a hit in the stomach, but was able to strike my head. We both flew back, out of breath.

We stared at each other for a few seconds, but before either of us could strike, Eggman called on my radio.

"Shadow! What in the world are you doing?" The docter demanded. I thought I saw a smirk on Sonc's face. "The island is going to blow up in less then five minutes!"

"Blow up?" Sonic shouted, with a step back. His smile was gone. I couldn't waste another second. I dashed on, leaving Sonic the Hedgehog in the dust.

After two and half minutes, I had retrived Rouge and the Chaos Emeralds, then warped to Eggman.

"Let's go!" I stated.

"Right." Eggman said. I hopped onto his machine as we took off, away from the island. Mere seconds later, the bombs went off, destorying everything on the island. If my luck had continued, maybe the blue hedgehog would have gone up with it.


	4. A display of power

"What do you think it's like on Earth, Shadow?" Maria asked me.

"The professor told me that his life's work was dedicated to those that live there. He said that it was his goal to make everyone happy there, through the power of science." I replied.

"Shadow…"

"I just don't understand anything anymore." I told her. "I often wonder why I exist, what my purpose is. Maybe, if go down there, I will finally get the answers. Maybe…"

"Something up, Shadow?" I snapped out of my memories as Rouge entered.

I had been going over the events that had occurred a long time ago. I was talking to Maria, the only person who had understood me. Maria and I had lived up on the space colony ARK our entire lives. Until that fateful day…

"You know," Rouge began again, after I neglected to answer her question. We were within the ARK now, staring out at the Earth below, like I used to do with Maria. "That was so different, coming from you." I stared at her, puzzled for a moment. "You know, rescuing me and all."

I shed a faint smile. "I didn't come to save you. It was for the emeralds." I replied, not sure weather that was true or not.

"Yeah, I'm sure. You just picked me up 'cause I happened to be there." Rouge smiled. "Anyway, thanks."

"Ahem!" The Eggman came in through the electronic door. "It's about time we show the world our power! Everything is set."

"Are you sure? We only have six of the Chaos Emeralds," Rouge commented.

"That's more than enough for a demonstration." I said, walking past the Eggman. "Let's get going!"

After we had the camera ready, we began recording. This live broadcast was going to be aired throughout that planet, all TV sets and radio frequencies would pick it up.

"People of Earth! Lend me your ears!" Eggman begun. "My name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik, recognized as Dr. Eggman, the soon-to-be ruler of Eggman Empire! Bwa ha ha ha! Take a look outside and witness my power!" Eggman finished. The Eclipse canon had started and destroyed the bottom part of the ARK. That part was useless anyways, it just hid the ARK.

The canon then fired a light blue beam out towards the moon, creating a small crater. Even that would have been a significant feat, but no. Gerald's canon could do much more than that. After several more seconds, the beam created a larger crater that soon became a massive hole. The rest of the landscape began crumbling away, and finally, half of the moon shattered to float within the abyss of space.

I could imagine the shock and terror going on within the Earth. It felt so good to have finally gotten my revenge, but I was far from finished. The humans had much more suffering to feel. We left each screen with timer of twenty four hours. That would be when the canon could fire again.

"That was pretty impressive," Rouge commented, as she aproached me and Eggman in the control room. Eggman was stomping the ground in frustation. I couldn't blame him. "What's up?" Rouge asked, concerned.

"The canon will take too long to charge," I replied, mostly to Eggman. "You'll need the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds to unleash the canon's full potential.

"Did something happen?" Rouge tried again.

"Our threay fell on deaf ears." I said, mournfully. "They're running around screaming, but still have no idea who we are."

"What about you, bat-girl?" Eggman said, suddenly. "You're supposed to be holding up your end of the bargain! Where's my emerald?"

"Look at this." Rouge handed him a newspaper with… that fox boy I had seen earlier.

_He has the emerald?_ I thought, as I silently read the article. Eggman read it aloud.

"Staion Square honored the hero, Miles "Tails" Prower for stopping a missle attack. After a ceremony, he was given the city's prized possesion: aChaos Emerald!" Eggman seemed a bit more pleased. "Well, this makes things a whole lot easier! You and Shadow go back to Earth immediately. I want that emerald!"

"Did you get that?" Rouge said, to me.

"Soon enough, Maria," I whispered to myself. I was close to fulfilling my promise, at last. I then began to head over to the teleporter Eggman had installed.


	5. The final emerald

I was waiting on a large mountain in the Pumpkin Hills. Rouge was using her car to follow Tails, and I was to aware the Doctor if they attempted to find our base. I had been waiting for a few hours before Rouge contacted me through our radios.

"Shadow, they're headed your way in a blue plane."

"Roger that, I'm in pursuit." I turned off my radio, then leapt off of the mountain. Clouds rushed past me in a blur, but I remained focused.

I did a flip to soften my land, then activated my shoes. I hit a solid surface and continued my path. Up ahead was a series of small cliffs connected by rails. I figured that they were from previous miners, so I hastily hopped on. The rail was slightly difficult to maneuver on, several twists and quick turns, but I managed easily.

Keeping a lock on the emerald's energy, I leapt off of the rail and landed on another cliff. Using the wall as a road, I traveled straight down. I jumped again and scaled the side of another wall before hopping onto a new rail. I could sense the energy close by, so I quickened my pace.

As the rail ended, I leapt off, into a flip, then landed on another mountain. I could finally see the blue plane up ahead, and just as expected, they were heading towards Eggman's headquarters.

"Dr., they're heading towards you. Should I take them out?"

"Negative. I don't know what they're planning, but I'm sure I can take them out on my own."

"As you wish." I put away my radio, then looked around. Everything was coming into part. We would have all the Chaos Emeralds soon, and the Eclipse Canon would be ready. I decided to head back to the base as well.

By the time I had arrived, Eggman had fallen victim to his own creation and the trespassers had escaped on one of his rockets. So much for taking care of things.

"Argh! Shadow, what took you so long? I'm going to contact Rouge and have her finish them. They're probably aboard the ARK by now."

After a discussion with Rouge, Eggman began to check the security cameras he set in the ARK. He quickly found The fox and the blue hedgehog I met earlier.

"What's that bat doing? Knuckles is tearing up the hull, Tails is destroying the core, and Sonic's taking out all of the guards! Wait, what's this? There are two emerald sources?" Eggman smiled as he looked on the screen. I was slightly puzzled. "That fox tried to make a fool of me! He created a fake emerald. I am slightly impressed, but he wasn't good enough!"

I sighed, then turned to leave. "Wait, Shadow," Eggman called back. "I should be the one to tell them the end is near. I trust that if something goes wrong, you'll take over immediately?" I nodded. "Good. I'll be in contact!" Eggman used his teleporter and was gone instantly.


	6. A truth revealed

I waited on the Ark, alone, thinking to myself. Everything was falling together, and soon my promise would be fulfilled. Then I would have nothing else to live for and would probably meet my demise along with the humans.

I decided not to think about it. Fate would take over, and all I could do would be to ensure its path. Eggman was heading to secure the final Chaos Emerald and destroy the intruders, and Rouge was somewhere else aboard the Ark.

After nearly a half hour, a capsule flew through outer space next to a window I had been staring through. I could vaguely see the outline of a blue creature within it. The next moment, it blew up.

"Hmph," I sighed. "I guess he was a regular hedgehog after all." I wasn't sure why, but I felt sorry, almost sad, that I had lost a rival. After realizing that, I quickly disbanded my thoughts. Instead, I began to wonder exactly where Rouge had gone. With only that thought in my mind, I rushed over to the Chaos Emeralds.  
"Finally, six of the seven Chaos Emeralds are mine!" Rouge spoke to herself. I was hanging on a support beam several yards away from her. I would've exposed her on the spot, but I could tell that there was something up besides the average greed of Earthlings.

Just as I expected, Rouge pulled out a small voice recorder and began to talk to it. "I now have possession of the Chaos Emeralds and thus putting a stop to Dr. Eggman's sinister plans, as instructed by the President. However I do expect my payment to be…"

"So, a spy from the government?" I asked, landing right behind the bat.

"Sh-Shadow?" Rouge stammered with surprise. She recovered quickly, though. "What's it mean to you? Do you really hate the Earth so much that you'd have it destroyed?"

"That is none of your concern. I have my duties to fulfill from my past."

"Really? So, you still think that you're the ultimate life-form, right?"

I was slightly confused. "I know that I'm the ultimate!"

"Then what's this?" Rouge pulled out several documents and showed them to me. I skimmed through them instantly.

It described Project Shadow as a huge lizard monster that couldn't be controlled and had killed many victims. It was concealed within the Ark over fifty years previous.  
"Bah!" I stated, shoving the papers away.

"These papers are highly accurate. I pulled them from the Ark's database. They say that Shadow was an experiment abandoned fifty years ago. It was designed to be the ultimate life-form, but it was too reckless."

"This is a lie!"

"It isn't! So, what exactly are you? An imposter?"

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultimate life to ever be known! I have my duties to fulfill, and these…papers, won't dare stop me!"

"Duties? Like what? Your past, all of your memories may have been made up!"

"Ah! Even if they aren't real, they're all I have," I began to collect myself as painful memories, false or not, began to fill my head again. "I will fulfill my promise to Maria, and destroy the humans who took her away."

"Shadow?" A voice suddenly came from my transmitter. "I have retrieved the final Chaos Emerald!" Eggman said, cheerfully. "But there is an intruder somewhere on the outside if the Eastern part of Ark."

"Roger that," I replied. I then turned to the bat-girl. "If you value your life, you'll leave the emeralds." I said, then stared into her eyes, energy begining to form in my finger tips. I could tell by her expression that my point had gotten across. I quickly left, heading over to stop whatever fool had decided to oppose me.


	7. The ultimate showdown

At this point, nothing Rouge had said truly mattered. I knew what I had to do, and there was no turning back.

I quickly left the Ark and hopped on a supporting rail. The intruder was on the far east corner, so it would take me a while to get there. I couldn't warp unless there was an open space, but with all the buildings and roads in the way, I'd have to fly through.

The rail sent me quite a ways, but I quickly launched off of it. I landed on a steep path, then glided down it without pause. Several meteors fell, which wasn't surprising at this altitude, but regardless, they were still annoying.

I took several more paths and hopped onto another rail as I neared an open area. Snagging my chance, I launched myself into the air and activated a Chaos Control. It successfully took me over to the area where my intruder had been indicated, a small passage that stretched for several miles until the Eclipse Canon came into view. As I entered, I found out that the intruder was the last being I had expected.

"Ha, you never cease to surprise me, blue hedgehog." I said walking over to him. He was slightly startled, but instantly got over it. "I thought that capsule you were in blew up in space?"

"Heh, what can I say? I die hard!" He began walking, as did I. "You know, it's your fault I'm still around," The hedgehog flashed his fake Chaos Emerald.

"Hm, you managed to use Chaos Control with an artificial emerald?" I asked with slight disbelief. "So there really is more to you than just looking like me. What are you, anyway?"

"What you see is what you get, just a guy who loves adventure! I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic picked up his speed to fast jog.

"I see. But you know," I turned my thrusters on and began to glide ahead, "I can't let you live!" He smirked and charged past me. I picked up my own speed even more as we entered the main road.

"All right Shadow, time for me to finish this!" Sonic shouted. We were both running at a near mach speed. After a few more seconds, we'd have each created a sonic boom.

"Before this is over, I'll show you the true meaning of Chaos Control!" I entered a chaos void and dashed over to Sonic. I prepared to strike him from the side, sending him over the edge of our bridge, but he managed to react quick enough. He fell to his hands and did a somersault under my kick, then, using his hands to support his body, managed to spin low kick at me. I hopped over it and dashed ahead of him. He instantly caught up and tried his homing attack on me. I picked up more speed, and avoided him long enough to create a miniature sonic boom. The energy propelled me forward while sending Sonic flying back.

"Agh!" Sonic cried. He did a back flip to regain his balance and land, but the bridge was already falling apart. There was no way for him to make it back up, thus making me the winner. "No! I'll use your, Chaos Control!"

I turned and witnessed Sonic send all of his energy into the small emerald and warp in front of me. He didn't even hesitate before dashing off again. "This is the ultimate!" I shouted, using a more enhanced Chaos Control. I flew forward into Sonic and this time struck a punch. Sonic took it and flew over the support rails causing him to plummet into the atmosphere. But I knew I couldn't let him have a chance. "Time to put this to rest. Chaos Spear!" I focused my all of my strength to summon several thunder bolts that would follow the hedgehog.

"Yow!" Sonic cried, joyously. He had been able to muster enough speed to sprint on the bottom of the bridge, then come out on the other side and grind on the railing. My lightning bolts also followed him, but only struck the bridge support. Sonic smiled and waved to me as my bridge began to collapse.

"No!" I shouted. I dashed along the path that I could and was barely able to hop back to the main road. I then continued my pursuit. "This is it! Chaos blast!" I focused my remaining energy into a final blast, causing an eruption from the inside of my body. A giant energy blast shot out, nailing Sonic directly. Surprisingly, he stood his ground, then, in the midst of my attack, he jumped behind me and held out his emerald again.

"No, this is it!" He shouted. I could see the flare in his eyes as my blast finally finished. "Sonic Wind!"

A small wind came by, then turned into a rapid blue cyclone, constricting me. I saw Sonic run away as I was sent flying into the atmosphere. With no other choice, and having already failed, I decided to retreat. It would be pointless to chase, there was nothing he could do to stop me at this point.

This was it, all of the pieces were set, the emeralds had been collected, and the eclipse canon had recharged. I knew what was coming, and even if Sonic destroyed the canon, it wouldn't make a difference. The world's fate was sealed, my revenge was near its true end. 


	8. A new awakening

I eventually made it back to the Ark. Everyone had already gathered and heard the clip from Doctor Gerald. I figured that the people on Earth were all screaming in terror by now and that even the blue hedgehog would've given up hope. But when I reached them, the Eggman and bat girl had called a truce with our enemies in order to save everyone! They had created some plan to use the echidna's emerald to channel the Chaos Emeralds' energy.

I knew they didn't have a chance, so I didn't see a reason to stop them. The entire ship had gone on a lockdown, and even if they managed to breach to the sanctuary, Doctor Gerald must've created a backup plan. So I watched the crew form a strategy and head out, completely ignoring me.

I entered the main room and stared out the window. The Ark had begun a collision course and would impact the Earth in at least a half hour. My mission was done, but I didn't feel right. There was something nagging at the back of my mind, like I needed to do more. The humans deserved what they would get right? It was what Maria had wanted…

"Shadow?" A small voice came from behind. It was the pink hedgehog who had mistook me for Sonic. I ignored her and continued to stare out through the window. "Shadow!" She persisted. "We need you! Please help the others!"

I just grunted. "There's no reason for me to help, we won't save anyone."

"That's not true!" She argued. "If we at least try, there's always a chance!"

"But they don't even deserve a chance, they're all greedy and show no mercy, so why should we show mercy on them? Humans will do what benefits them with no concern for consequences and shouldn't be given the chance to survive."

"Shadow… there are some people in the world like that, but not everyone. People can be greedy, and they won't always do the best thing, but they are basically good. As long as they try their hardest and never give up, they do deserve a chance. They all just need a chance to live and be happy!"

Such insignificant words from a naïve girl, yet they still had an effect on me. My memories of Maria came back, but they were different. Instead of Maria wishing for me to extract revenge on the humans, all she wanted was for them to be happy. She sounded just like the hedgehog.

"Shadow?"

I felt a warm trickle in my eye, a small tear. It could've been true, I may not have ever known Maria, but I did still have a promise to fulfill. I needed to follow her wish and save the humans. They weren't all bad, just as the hedgehog had told me.

"I…have to go now." I said. "I need to keep my promise to Maria…and you." With that, I took off to the core of the Ark, prepared to sacrifice my life for my pledge.


	9. The Final Hazard

I was slightly impressed by the progress the earthlings had made. They had completely destroyed each gate and reached the core in under ten minutes. I reached them in only three minutes flat, however, as the Ark's system began to go haywire and released a huge lizard with green rods and a pink censor in the middle of his back. It was the Bio-lizard, my prototype as Rouge had shown me.

"Could that be the prototype of Shadow, the one that was supposed to be encapsulated?" The red echidna said to Sonic. The others had gone back to wait for the 'heroes' to do their thing.

"Hmph, I'll handle this one," I said softly, walking past the echidna and Sonic.

"Shadow? What're you doing?" Sonic asked, motioning to stop me.

"I said, leave it to me! Hurry up and stop the Chaos Emeralds, hedgehog!" I looked at the two of them, who finally nodded and left. I then faced my prototype as he stared back at me.

We were in a huge room, flowing with yellow chemical water. The creature was inside a huge lake of the water while I was standing on a stone platform surrounding it. My path circled around it, giving me plenty of room to run.

"Alright, prototype, it's time to finish this!" I activated my shoes and started to glide as the monster flung its neck at me. It began a chase with a futile attempt to eat me whole. "Knock that off!" I shouted, leaping back and kicking him in the jaw. It let out a roar, giving me an opening. I shot out a blast of my focused energy into its neck, but I couldn't see any effect. The lizard growled and flung its tail at me, this time hitting me.

The force of the blow sent me back, but I instantly recovered and landed. I figured that since the lizard was so huge, he'd be slow, but that wasn't the case. I had heard a whooshing noise and realized that the prototype was swinging its tail at me with enough power to destroy a building. There wasn't enough time to move out of the way, so I curled into a spindash and shot towards it. The tail flung me like a spring into his face, which appeared as a surprise. I landed on one of the green rod near its mouth and was able to grind on it leading up to an exposed back.

I wasn't really sure of what to do next, but I did notice a large swollen area covering his hide. If he was invulnerable, but still a prototype, then this must've been his fall back support system.

The monster had let out a huge cry that shook the ARK to signify that my assumption was correct. I had landed softly, but the lizard was already on a rampage. He formed his own balls of energy from his mouth and shot them at me, but they were slow and straight, making it easy to dodge. I tried another approach of attacking and struck his life-support again, with another scream for the result.

I figured one more would finish the job, but my prototype had a final trick up his sleeve. His skin began to mutate and turned into miniature pink bubbles. I was unsure of what they did, but almost immediately, they began to shoot at me. It was difficult to duck and weave past them, and there wasn't a sure limit. To make matters worse, the lizard was shooting out energy blasts again.

I knew beating the monster would take some time, so I came up with a new plan. I peered at the shrine that the echidna and Sonic were at, and they looked close enough to being done so I decided to warp over and ask for help.

"Dang!" the red echidna shouted, as I arrived. "I stopped the emeralds, but the ARK is still falling!"

"Hey Shadow, what happened to the lizard?" Sonic asked me. I turned around to notice that the prototype had disappeared as well. He must've used Chaos Control at the same time that I did.

"Sonic, Knuckles!" Eggman's voiced boomed over the Ark's speakers. "The prototype is attaching himself to the ARK! He's planning on forcing it down himself! You know what to do, so hurry and stop him!"

"What does he mean 'you know what to do'?" I asked the duo, unsure of what was going on. The hedgehog, who had already mocked death even more than me, just grinned. Knuckles seemed just as confused as I was, but he caught on a bit quicker.

"Alright, ultimate life. I'm sure harnessing the powers of the Chaos Emeralds shouldn't be a challenge for you. Now give me your hand." Sonic told me. I did as he said, and felt a wave of energy overcome me. Sonic obviously knew what he was doing. He had said to control the Chaos Emeralds. I clenched my fist, and then focused on the power surrounding me. The emeralds were doing something, they were moving. Then they were beginning to fade and vanish. I opened my eyes and realized that I was flying. It was all happening so suddenly, we were already halfway through the ARK's interior. Sonic was next to me and was now golden, while my fur had become a type of crimson. I was full of a new power, indefinite strength I had never felt before. Now there was no doubt I was the ultimate life form!


	10. The end of the Beginning

We shortly arrived within the depths of space to meet the Biolizard. He had attached his body to the ARK and was forcing it to move.

"I've had just about enough of you!" I shouted at it. It seemed to ignore me and continued his crash course. "Fine then! Sonic, let's take him out!"

"Right!" Sonic cried, next to me. I led the way and flew over to the lizard at a speed faster than I had ever gone before. I struck him with my body, but was sent back by his invincible skin. Sonic made even less progress.

"Agh. Why do I feel so light-headed?" I asked Sonic, who seemed to be in better condition. "I feel a bit weaker then before."

"What? Already?" Sonic asked, surprised. "You must not be used to your super-form. Hurry and head back to the ARK and have Tails boost your energy, but be quick!"

I nodded and flew over to the fox over in the ARK's loading bay. Everyone had gathered there with nothing left to do but wait for me and Sonic to finish off the oversized lizard. "Fox-boy, uh, Tails," I said, gliding to a stop in front of him. My new silver quills weren't as much of a surprise to him as I thought, but I could sense a feeling of pride from within everyone, including myself. "Sonic told me you could give me an energy boost."

"Sure-thing, Shadow!" He replied, with a smile that only an adolescent could provide at during this type of crisis. He rummaged through his machine and pulled out a box along with the fake chaos emerald. He pressed a few buttons and handed me the emerald. It gave me a small jolt, and I felt re-charged, as good as new.

"Wow, thanks kid."

"Don't mention it! Just tell Sonic to head over next and come back when you run low on energy."

"We're all rooting for you!" Rouge told me. Amy gave me a smile and the echidna just nodded his head.

"Shadow, you must destroy the Bio-lizard quickly," Eggman added. "You have no more then ten-minutes before we reach the Earth's atmosphere and we won't be able to return to orbit!"

"Right, I will…Doctor!" I nodded to them, and then flew back to Sonic. "Any progress, blue hedgehog?"

"Yeah," Sonic said, triumphantly. "He has a swelling spot on his body, but it keeps moving. If we attack it long enough, I'm sure he'll go down!"

"Good!" I smiled. "Go see Tails now, and I'll finish this!" Sonic took off, leaving me to my own problem. I focused some energy into my hands and warped over to the massive creature before looking for his weak spot. It noticed me and swung its tail in an attempt to knock me off course. I countered with a small chaos blast from my left hand and sent the tail back to where it came. The monster didn't seem to feel pain, but I quickly found his swelled area and decided to show him what it was like.

I used all of my energy to force my body at his weak spot, which made him let out a blood-curdling scream. Without hesitation, he quickly shot out a laser beam and struck me dead on, flinging me to Sonic who had just come back.

"Whoa, nice job Shadow!" he congratulated me. "Hurry up and get some more energy!"

"Ugh, not yet! Give me one more shot!" I shouted, charging back for more.

"No, Shadow!" Sonic yelled at me, from over a mile away now. I didn't stop, but after just a blink, Sonic was already in front of me, waiting. "You're using too much energy recklessly! You're color's already fading, and at this speed you'll just fall into the planet's atmosphere!"

"I don't care!" I cried back, trying to get past him. Sonic didn't hesitate to stop me, and then with strength twice of mine, he sent me hurdling back to the ARK. "Agh! Fox!" I shouted at the young boy since I was already here. "Give me another energy boost! NOW!"

"O-ok." said Tails, quickly following his procedure. I left with the process incomplete as Sonic was finishing up his attack on my prototype. We were closing in even more on the atmosphere at this point. We had already wasted enough time, and my sight was starting to turn red from the heat and intensity.

I flew past a worn out Sonic who had just finished another attack. "Alright! Now this is it!" I told him without slowing down. He didn't stop me, but began to fly alongside me to back me up if I messed up. I knew it wasn't necessary, since my next attack would be a sure-kill, even if it ended up killing me.

I started by aiming for the weak spot as quickly as I could, and this time for sure I used all of my strength and charged through it. The monster let out his worst cry yet, practically dead just from that move. I wasn't done yet, though. "Chaos Blast!" I cried for the last time, letting out the strongest wave of energy I had ever created. It practically disintegrated the entire creature as well as shake the space colony. I felt even more light-headed than before, and I knew my powers were vanishing, but there wasn't time enough to head back.

"Shadow?" Sonic called, or whispered, to me. At this point, I couldn't tell if he was right next to me, or several miles away.

"Sonic!" I called back, only half-conscience, but still focused. "We've gotta stop the ARK and send it back! We can't let those people die as long as they've got some good within them! We need them to be…Happy!" I felt a smile form from my face, and I could feel Sonic was doing the same, wherever he was.

"Right. Well, let's hurry!" He began to form some of his own energy, a move that I had taught him without meaning to, a move I thought could only be mine. I did so as well, with whatever strength I managed to find from my limitless bounty. And finally, in perfect unison, two hedgehogs saved the planet with just a cry, "Chaos Control!"

Sonic must've been right beside me, but I knew what would happen. He wasn't the ultimate life form, and using such a move as he did would've also taken up his powers too. With my last redeeming action, I forced Sonic into my blast and sent him on his way back to the ARK, even though it would mean my life.

"Well, Maria," I whispered to myself, or whoever was listening as I fell into the atmosphere in my traditional black and red colors, "This is what you wanted, right? Well, then, this is my gift to you…"


End file.
